Control for stopping yarn carriers in flat bed knitting machines



March 1, 1966 E. JETTE/ CONTROL FOR STOPPING YARN CARRIERS IN FLAT BED KNITTING MACHINES Flled Oct 5. 1963 4-3 42 4/ 39 40 38 {III R a r WU F m 0w A W m A 3 Y 5 W4 Q A 9/ H W HUNG... 4 /n 4 w. l |N ie |m|1|l NW1? t H zewwmkawm PATENT AGENT United States Patent 3,237,432 CONTROL FOR STOPPING YARN CARRIERS IN FLAT BED KNITTING MACHINES Emile Jett, 1030 Dutrisac St., St. Laurent, Quebec, Canada Filed Oct. 3, 1963. Ser.N0. 313,568 Claims. (Cl. 66125) The present invention relates to knitting machines of the fiat bed or rectilinear type and relates to control means for stopping the yarn carriers at the ends of their operative stroke.

More particularly, the present invention relates to that type of flat V-bed knitting machine, in which the knitting needles are adapted to be fed with several yarns of different characteristics, such as color, from several yarn carriers, selected ones of the yarn carriers being moved back and forth along a linear path in co-operation with the needles by a driving assembly including a block member positively driven in a continuous to and fro movement along a path parallel to the yarn carriers and provided with plungers associated with the yarn carriers, each plunger being movable with respect to the block member in accordance with the commands of a Jacquard mechanism, between a retracted position clearing said yarn carriers and an operative position engaging said yarn carriers for moving the same to feed yarn to the knitting needles. Thus, multicolor or other distinctive patterns may be produced with the machine.

In order to stop the yarn carriers at a predetermined a limit position at the ends of its operative stroke, yarn carrier stoppers are mounted on the guide bars carrying the yarn carriers and said stoppers are manually secured in adjustable position on the guide bar. The yarn carriers abut the stoppers at their limit position and said stoppers incorporate means for releasing the plungers of the driving assembly from engagement with the yarn carriers.

By manually adjusting the position of the yarn carrier stoppers along the guide bar, one can determine the length or number of stitches in a course to be knitted wih a yarn of the desired color or other characteristic.

Because the stoppers have to be manually adjusted on the guide bars, in practice only square or rectangular patterns can be knitted with such machines; that is, designs in which the edges of a differently-colored pattern will be located in the same Wale.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide an accessory for knitting machines of the abovenoted type, which will enable the automatic stepwise displacement of the yarn carrier stoppers in accordance with a predetermined program, to enable the machine to knit fabric having a considerably increased number of ornamental patterns, the number of such patterns being practically illimited.

In accordance with the invention, advantage is taken of the Jacquard controlled plungers of the yarn carrier driving assembly for moving the yarn carrier stoppers one step at a time at selected strokes of said plungers, whereby the positioning of the yarn carrier stoppers is carried out automatically in accordance with a prcdetermined program.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a control member for the purpose described, of very simple construction and which automatically locks itself in adjusted position after each step-wise displacement thereof.

The foregoing and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent during the following disclosure and by referring to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is partial front view of the driving assembly, yarn carrier, yarn carrier stoppers, and yarn stopper control in accordance with the invention as used in a flat V-bed type knitting machine;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the elements shown in FIGURE 1. except that the top block of the driving assembly is not shown and that the plungers are being shown in cross-section; and

FIGURE 3 is a cross-section of a double-guide bar and showing in end view the control member and a yarn carrier stopper.

Referring more particularly to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate like elements throughout, the control system of the invention will be described as associated with the flat V-bed knitting machine type JBOM-b, manufactured by H. Stoll & Company, Reutlingeu, Wurttemberg, Western Germany. However, it is understood that the invention is adaptable to other flat bed knitting machines having a plurality of yarn carriers controlled by a Jacquard mechanism.

Knitting machines of the above-described type comprise a plurality of guide bars for the yarn carriers, disposed side by side and in parallel relationship with each other and with the line of knitting needles, the latter not being shown. In the drawings, there are two double guide bars forming the four guide bars 1, 1', 1", 1".

Yarn carriers 2, of conventional construction, are mounted for free sliding movement on the guide bars; for instance, the yarn carriers have a dovetailed formation engaging the dovetailed male formation 4 of the guide bars.

The yarn is led to the knitting needles from the lower outer end 5 of the yarn carriers, said outer end 5 being preferably narrow, the yarn carriers being the so-called plunger yarn carrier. To move the yan carriers 2 back and forth along guide bars 1, 1', 1", 1", a driving assembly is provided, comprising a block member 6 supported and guided for movement parallel to guide bars 1, 1, 1!! 11/! Block member 6 is rigidly secured by a bracket 8 to carriage 8, shown in cross-section, of conventional construction, which positively moves block member 6 in a to and fro movement along a path parallel to guide bars 1, 1! 1n, 1!!!- Block member 6 carries a plurality of plungers 9 which are mounted for movement relative to block member 6 between a retracted inoperative position clearing the top edge faces 10 of yarn carriers 2 and an operative extended position, in which the free end of plungers 9 engages the notch 11 formed between the two edge faces 10.

There is one plunger 9 associated with each guide bar. For instance, as shown in the drawings, there are four plungers 9 carried by block member 6, aligned transversely of the guide bars. Block member 6 is provided with button members, not shown, protruding from one side face thereof and operatively connected to the individual plungers 9 for retracting and extending said plungers. The buttons on block member 6 are operated by means, at both ends of the knitting machine, which are in turn controlled by a Jacquard mechanism of the punched-card type. Thus, upon to and fro movement of block member 6, those yarn carriers 2 Will be displaced along guide bars 1, 1', 1", 1", which are in operative engagement with the extended plungers 9, the remaining carriers being idle.

In order to stop the yarn carrier 2 at an adjusted limit position at the ends of its stroke, yarn carrier stoppers are mounted on the guide bar associated with said yarn carrier.

The yarn carrier stoppers 7, of conventional construction, are locked in adjusted position on the guide bar by having a manually releasable pin engaging anyone of several holes 12 made in the guide bars 1. Said conventional yarn stoppers 7 are shown in the drawings located at one end of the guide bars 1', 1", and 1". One yarn carrier 2 is shown abutting stopper 7 on guide bar 1" at rest position.

In accordance with a preferred manner of carrying out the invention, the yarn carrier 2 on the front guide bar 1, together with its yarn carrier stopper 7, is removed and replaced by a control member 13 adapted to be engaged by the front plunger 9 of the block member 6.

Control member 13 consists of a frame having a dovetailed formation 14 on the side thereof and engagea-ble with the dovetailed formation 4 of front guide bar 1, such that control member 13 may be displaced along front guide bar 1 and guided thereby.

The frame of control member 13 consists of two horizontal bars 15 secured by screws 16 to vertical bars 17,

the same providing the dovetailed formations 14. A

toothed wheel 18, the teeth 19 of which engages the holes 12 of front guide bar 1, is disposed between the top and bottom horizontal bars 15 and is mounted on a shaft 20, which vertically extends through the lower horizontal bar 15 and is provided at its lower protruding end with a gear wheel 21.

Gear wheel 21 meshes with a second gear wheel 22, secured to the lower protruding end of a shaft 23, which is journaled in bosses 24 protruding from the upper and lower horizontal bars 15.

The upper end of shaft 23 is secured to an indexing wheel 25 mounted for rotational movement on the top face 26 of control member 13. A spring-loaded ball 27 partly protrudes from top face 26 to engage between any two of the four wings 28 of index wheel 25. The end portion of the wing 28 extending backwardly towards the back guide bars is in the path of the front plunger 9 of block member 6 to be engaged thereby when said front plunger is in extended position.

Thus due to the gearing arrangements 21, 22, control member 13 will be displaced one step in the direction of movement of the block member 6. For instance, supposing block member 6 moves in the direction of arrow 29, shown in FIGURE 2, the star wheel 25 will rotate in accordance with arrow 30 and the control member 13 will be displaced one step in accordance with arrow 31.

If the plunger 9 moves in accordance with arrow 32, the star wheel 25 will rotate in accordance with arrow 33 and control member will be displaced one step in the direction of arrow 34.

A step may be the distance between two successive knitting needles. Obviously, by changing the relative diameters of gear wheels 21 and 22, which in the drawings are of equal diameters, it is possible to move control member 13 the distance of more than one knitting needle.

The top face 26 is provided with a plunger lifting element 35 having inclined end faces 36 and disposed in the path of front plunger 9 of block member 6.

Element 35 has a lateral extension 37 overlapping the middle of bars 1 and 1". A connector rod 38, adjustable in length, is pivotally connected to extension 37 and the lateral extension 39 of a yarn carrier stopper 40. The latter has dovetailed formations 41 engageable with the guide bar 1' immediately adjacent front guide bar 1 and is provided on at least one end thereof with a plunger lifting element 42 having an outer inclined face 43.

Element 42 is disposed in the path of plunger 9 associated with guide bar 1'. Stopper 40 is mounted for sliding movement on guide bar -1 and is displaced by control member 13 and is accurately positioned thereby.

The plunger lifting element 42 of the yarn carrier stopper 40 is adapted to overlap the yarn carrier in the limit position of the latter, in which limit position one side face of the carrier abut-s against the side face of the dovetailed formations 41 of stopper 40.

In this overlapped position, the plunger lifting elements or top edge faces 10 of the yarn carrier 2 are disposed opposite lifting element 42 of the stopper 40.

Supposing block member 6 moves towards the left, as seen in FlGURES 1 and 2, with the two front plungers 9 and back plunger in operative position, two of said plungers 9 engaging and moving the yarn carriers 2 on bars 1 and 1". Carrier on bar 1" makes a full stroke, carrier on bar 1 accomplishes its operative stroke until it abuts yarn carrier stopper 40, which is on the same guide bar. Plunger 9 engages and is lifted by plunger lifting element 42 of stopper 40, thereby releasing the yarn carrier in its limit position. However, front plunger 9, in its movement towards the left, has previously engaged rearwardly extending wing 28 of index wheel 25, thereby rotating said wheel 25 and displacing the control member 13 towards the left the extent of one step. Upon leaving whee-l 25, plunger is lifted by element 35 to clear extension 37, but drops back into operative position.

Control member 13 thus automatically displaces the yarn carrier stopper 40 one step towards the left. Thus, the new limit position of yarn carrier 2 on bar -1' is one step to the left of its previous limit position. On the next stroke of block member 6 towards the left, the yarn carrier 2, engaged by plunger 9, will again move towards the left the extent of an additional knitting needle, whereby said knitting needle will knit the yarn carried by said yarn carrier and, thus, an additional stitch of the desired color will be made. With the above arrangement of yarn carriers 2 on bars 1' and 1", plated knitting is obtained with the colored yarn appearing in front of the yarn fed by carrier of bar 1".

As previously noted, depending on the choice of gear wheels 21 and 22, the displacement of the stopper 40 can be made greater than the distance separating two knitting needles. Obviously, other control members 13 and associated yarn carrier stoppers 40 may be disposed on the front guide bar 1. Similarly, more than one stopper 40 can be connected to one control member 13, as shown. For this purpose, stoppers 40 have two opposite lateral extensions 39 and each said extension and also extension 37 of control 13 are provided with two holes for receiving screws for pivotally connecting connector rods 38.

From the foregoing arrangement, it will be appreciated that any type of decorative patterns may be knitted into the fabric, in automatic manner, in accordance with a. predetermined program set in the punched cards of the Jacquard mechanism.

While a preferred embodiment in accordance with the invention has been illustrated and described, it is understood that various modifications may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a fiat bed knitting machine of the type comprising guide bars disposed side by side in spaced relationship to a bed of knitting needles, yarn carriers mounted on said guide bars for free slidable movement thereon, yarn carrier stoppers mounted on said guide bars for movement therealong, said yarn carrier stoppers adapted to stop said yarn carriers at the end of their movement along said guide bars to define limit positions for said yarn carriers, a control member mounted on one of said guide bars for step-wise movement therealong, a link connecting said control member and said yarn carrier stoppers for displacement of the latter by the former, a yarn carrier driving assembly comprising a block positively driven into a to and fro linear movement parallel to and spaced from said first-named guide bars, and plungers carried by said block and movable relative to said block between an operative extended position with some of said plungers engaging said yarn carriers to move the same along their guide bars, and another one of said plungers engageable with said control member to displace the same one step along its guide bar, and an inoperative retracted position in which said plungers clear said yarn carriers and control member, and means on said control member operable to move said control member one step to a new position and to lock said control member into said new position upon driving engagement by a plunger of said block.

2. In a flat bed knitting machine as claimed in claim 1, wherein said guide bar has serrations therealong, and said means include a toothed wheel mounted on said control member and engageable with said serrations on said guide bar, an indexing wheel mounted for rotation on said control member and having spokes which are engageable by the associated plunger of said control block, gear means between said toothed wheel and indexing wheel in intermeshing engagement, and spring means to limit rotation of said indexing wheel the extent of one spoke for each engagement of said indexing wheel by said plunger.

3. In a flat bed knitting machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein said toothed wheel displaces said control member in the same direction as the direction of movement of said block.

4. In a fiat bed knitting machine as claimed in claim 2, wherein said serrations in said guide bar consist of spaced holes made therein, the teeth of said toothed wheel engageable with said holes.

5. In a flat V-bed knitting machine of the type comprising at least two guide bars disposed side by side in spaced relation with a V-bed of knitting needles and parallel to the linear disposition thereof, a yarn carrier mounted on one of said guide bars for slidable movement thereon, a yarn carrier stopper mounted on said one guide bar for slidable movement thereon, said yarn carrier stopper adapted to stop said yarn carrier at the end of its movement along said guide bar to define a limit position of said yarn carrier, a control member mounted on said other one of said guide bars for step-wise movement therealong, actuator means on said control member operable to move said control member one step along its guide bar upon actuation thereof, a link connecting said control member and said yarn carrier stopper for displacement of the latter by the former, a yarn carrier driving assembly comprising a block positively driven into a to and fro linear movement parallel to and spaced from said guide bars, and plungers carried by said block and movable relative to said block between an extended operative position and an inoperative position, one of said plungers in its operative position engaging said yarn carrier to move the same along its guide bar and another of said plungers in its operative position engageable with said actuator means of said control member to actuate said actuator means to displace said control member one step along said guide bar in the direction of movement of said block, whereby movement of said control member displaces the yarn carrier stopper connected thereto, retracting said plungers in inoperative position clearing said yarn carrier and said control member.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,877,262 9/1932 Werfelman 66-128 2,656,694 10/1963 Barby et al 66-128 FOREIGN PATENTS 904,751 8/ 1962 Great Britain.

DONALD W. PARKER, Primary Examiner.

R. FELDBAUM, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A FLAT BED KNITTING MACHINE OF THE TYPE COMPRISING GUIDE BARS DISPOSED SIDE BY SIDE IN SPACED RELATIONSHIP TO A BED OF KNITTING NEEDLES, YARN CARRIES MOUNTED ON SAID GUIDE BARS FOR FREE SLIDABLE MOVEMENT THEREON, YARN CARRIER STOPPERS MOUNTED ON SAID GUIDE BARS FOR MOVEMENT THEREALONG, SAID YARN CARRIER STOPPERS ADAPTED TO STOP SAID YARN CARRIERS AT THE END OF THEIR MOVEMENT ALONG SAID GUIDE BARS TO DEFINE LIMIT POSITIONS FOR SAID YARN CARRIERS, A CONTROL MEMBER MOUNTED ON ONE OF SAID GUIDE BARS FOR STEP-WISE MOVEMENT THEREALONG, A LINK CONNECTING SAID CONTROL MEMBER AND SAID YARN CARRIER STOPPERS FOR DISPLACEMENT OF THE LATTER BY THE FORMER, A YARN CARRIER DRIVING ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A BLOCK POSITIVELY DRIVEN INTO A TO AND FRO LINEAR MOVEMENT PARALLEL TO AND SPACED FROM SAID FIRST-NAMED GUIDE BARS, AND PLUNGERS CARRIED BY SAID BLOCK AND MOVABLE RELATIVE TO SAID BLOCK BETWEEN AN OPERATIVE EXTENDED POSITION WITH SOME OF SAID PLUNGERS ENGAGING SAID YARN CARRIERS TO MOVE THE SAME ALONG THEIR GUIDE BARS, AND ANOTHER ONE OF SAID PLUNGERS ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID CONTROL MEMBER TO DISPLACE THE SAME ONE STEP ALONG ITS GUIDE BAR, AND AN INOPERATIVE RETRACTED POSITION IN WHICH SAID PLUNGERS CLEAR SAID YARN CARRIERS AND CONTROL MEMBER, AND MEANS ON SAID CONTROL MEMBER OPERABLE TO MOVE SAID CONTROL MEMBER ONE STEP TO A NEW POSITION AND TO LOCK SAID CONTROL MEMBER INTO SAID NEW POSITION UPON DRIVING ENGAGEMENT BY A PLUNGER OF SAID BLOCK. 